More than 60 people were in attendance, filling every seat. Felix Torres-Colon, Executive Director of NKCDC and Brian Murray, Founder and CEO of Shift Capital began by explaining the inspiration for the Challenge and outlining the community and economic impact that the challenge will have on the K&A Corridor. Maria Sourbeer, Vice President of Development for Shift Capital, and Kae Anderson, Director of Economic Development for NKCDC then took over to walk through the timeline, application process, the properties and incentives available through the challenge.

After Q&A, the room opened up for folks to share ideas and contribute to the Reimagine Business Interest Survey, an initiative led by NKCDC and Impact Services to determine what types of business community members leave the neighborhood for, and are interested in seeing on the Ave.

The Launch was a huge success. Shift Capital and partners are looking forward to next event for the challenge, an open house of properties available through the challenge on Saturday October 7th from 12:00-2:00pm.

—————————————————————————————————————————————-

The Kensington Avenue Storefront Challenge is an opportunity to participate in the reimagining of Kensington Ave as the safe, innovative, inclusive heart of the community. Shift Capital is partnering with NKCDC and Impact Services and the City of Philadelphia Department of Commerce to provide funding and support to accelerate up to 10 concepts in real spaces directly on Kensington Ave.